![]() “Maybe some people would find it a stretch, but when you’re operating an object of any sort, even if it’s a two-dimensional object, outside of your own body, then it can be classified as puppetry,” Currier said. Shoshana Currier, a former New York City producer and current director of performing arts for Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs, pushed to get Barrow’s work in the fest. Thomas’s eagerness to showcase those on the fringe of puppetry allowed the fest to reachout to artists like David Commander of New York-based experimental performance ensemble Big Art Group, who creates live-action film using action figures and barbies, and Canada’s Daniel Barrow, whose performance work utilizes layered drawings and multiple projectors. It was during this fest that Thomas would see the Barcelona-based puppet company El Comidience, which would inspire him to eventually cofound Chicago’s Redmoon Theater in 1990. In its eight-year run, the fest exposed Chicagoans to theatre from Lithuania, Ireland and South Africa and featured performances from the likes of Kenneth Branagh and Ian McKellen. In addition to efforts from Sutton and Thomas, companies like Chicago Shakespeare, Neo-Futurists and Second City provided performance space for the more than 50 shows presented at the fest.įor Thomas, the puppet fest is also a response to the loss of another festival, Chicago’s International Theater Festival, which began in 1986 and ended in 1994 due to financial troubles. The fest’s managing director, Claire Geall Sutton, was the director of theatre for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs for 18 years, and both Sutton and Thomas were integral to coordinating programming for a 2001 Chicago puppet fest called Puppetropolis. The 12-day festival was the result of a drive from the theatrical community and support from local foundations. ![]() She based the name on logic that someone who drives a mule was a muleteer hence, one who “drives” a puppet should be a puppeteer. In the early 20 th century, someone who operated puppets would have been called a “showman,” but the word was limiting to Ellen Van Volkenburg, a stage director who came up with the term “puppeteer” in 1912. It was Chicago, Thomas points out, where the term “puppeteer” was coined. ![]() “Once audiences are exposed to what’s going on in the contemporary puppetry movement, they will come to want higher-quality puppetry.” “My goal is to create a festival that redefines what puppetry is for the audiences of Chicago,” Thomas said. Chicago puppet theatre aficionado Blair Thomas conceived the event, which concluded on Sunday, as a way to both solidify the city as a puppet theatre hub and as a way to spark conversation over the nature of puppetry. The London-based company was one of a dozen international companies that presented shows to puppet fanatics and the puppet-curious alike at Chicago’s inaugural International Puppet Theater Festival. The moment emphasizes one of the show’s key messages: Puppetry is less about the puppet and more about the puppeteer. CHICAGO: In Blind Summit’s The Table-an homage to Moses as crotchety prophet-there’s a remarkable, somewhat shocking moment where the show’s lone puppet is disposed of, leaving the performers to create life from just their hands and empty space.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |